What is the point of the Occupy protests>

[Joelene9]

Who's going to wave the magic wand? The next President? That's unlikely.

None of them could.  FDR tried, with very little success.  It was WWII and the industry that came on line that got us out of the Great Depression.  When the soldiers returned, there was the G. I. Bill waiting for them.  It was the available college courses plus the soldiers' leadership skills learned from their military service that kept up the industry.  We the Baby Boomers got spoiled by our parents and whittled away what they built for us and our children.  This is where we are at now.  It is up to (You) Gen X and Gen Y to come up to the plate. 
  A lot of you have the college degrees and can do well with those, but there are not many of the job descriptions available for those degrees.  Since we do not have enough manufacturing or other stable industry in this country, this is what happens.  The types of jobs change more quickly over time because of the instability and the available jobs become obsolete before any of you complete a four-year course.  We got to bring back those stable industries and not those multinational corporations that would erode us further. 
  Joelene

[Julie Marie]

Behind every healthy economy is MONEY, and enough of it to go around.  The transference of wealth that started back in the 80's has sapped a lot of that money out of the economy and put it in the hands of the few.  And they aren't spending it.

Without that money fueling the economy there's no hope of getting out of this.  The government got us into this mess by removing the hinges on the door and letting in the thieves. Now they have to undo what they did.

Simple solution: go back to a time when the economy was healthy, the deficit was tolerable (or even non-existent) and unemployment was low.  Reinstate the tax structure that was in place then, the campaign laws that were in place then and the financial rules and regulations that were in place then.  Just make sure you don't pick a time when we were on this slide or at least reinstate the the rules and regulations that governed this economy prior to the slide.

There's a lot of other things we can do, such as enact rules, laws or regulations that reward companies that hire our citizens or penalize those who send jobs overseas, reverse the Supreme Court decision that made corporations people (which allowed corporations to influence elections in a HUGE way - cha-ching!), and encourage a revival of manufacturing in this country.  It would also help if we stepped up our efforts to reduce reliance on foreign oil and any other product that creates a negative cash flow for this country.

Then you have to be patient and let the system recover. 

[Morrigan]

We never fully recovered from the Great Depression. If you view the average work week,
compared to luxuries afforded, you'll see where we started downhill. prior to the Great Depression,
Families had spare time and money to invest in hobbies, money that would go back into circulation
here in the US.

In the 30s, work weeks began to skyrocket to the 40+ we are now used to. Even
70 years later, most Americans work at least 5 days a week, and if they have kids, there isn't
any room in the budget for a stay at home parent. Both parents work, one of them often
works two jobs.

The sad part about it, is that we work more hours and still have less money to afford luxuries
that we would have in years past.

Corporations have productivity rates at least 5 times that of businesses
during the Great Depression. Inflation alone allowes for wage increases, and our recent wage
stagnation doesn't even keep up with current inflation! Why do we work more hours for less
money while they profit?

A good example of corporate greed can be seen in the Cable TV business. They charge more
every year for a service that becomes cheaper as technology advances. Even with all that extra
money, they fail to significantly improve their services. Cable companies are the only reliable
form of High-Speed Internet now, and if you compare their services to Asian counterparts, you
will see a huge cost difference.

Current policies are failing to stop greed, especially on commodities, and it only hurts Low to
Middle-Class Americans more every year

[Julie Marie]

Now, what was the question again?

[Morrigan]

We're giving purpose to the protests

[Mahsa Tezani]

I hung out in a "occupier town" today...Nice people. It was very relaxing... Nice men too. As long as their protests are lawful, I support them.

[kyril]

I hung out in a "occupier town" today...Nice people. It was very relaxing... Nice men too. As long as their protests are lawful, I support them.

That's good to hear

[Mahsa Tezani]

That's good to hear

I think they were surprised an outsider had enough balls to walk in and look around. One of the guys told me I was hot considering I look nothing like a hippy girl. I posted an update on fb.. Hippies ain't so bad. In fact, it was super relaxing...

Regardless of those kids stories and political idealogies...they aren't hurting anyone.

[Morrigan]

There are some issues with lawfulness of it, Masha, as many of the camps are assembling
without permits, or spilling onto areas that were not authorized. That is by far the most
common grievance the mayors and police forces report.

The problem is that you have to apply for a permit to assemble on the lands they typically occupy.

The First Amendment says: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
government for a redress of grievances.

What does free mean? Does that mean the permit must not cost money? Does stalling a permit
violate their rights, because they have to wait, and are not "free to assemble" until that permit
is allowed, if ever?

Unfortunately, long-standing laws are found to be unconstitutional all the time, and just as many
laws that "shouldn't be" are found constitutional, because they depend on interpretation of the
amendments by the courts. The way many protestors go about provoking these unconstitutional
acts may not be the wisest, but many of them feel the alternative methods are ineffectual.

I promote a more legal and civil message, rather than pure civil disobedience, but I fear that giving
in to every city leaderships' demands, will box protestors into the deepest alleys where their voice
cannot be heard. 

[Julie Marie]

I think they were surprised an outsider had enough balls to walk in and look around. One of the guys told me I was hot considering I look nothing like a hippy girl. I posted an update on fb.. Hippies ain't so bad. In fact, it was super relaxing...

Regardless of those kids stories and political idealogies...they aren't hurting anyone.

The hippies and kids of the Occupy Movement: